A student was driving with a .242 blood alcohol
content (BAC) when he struck to other Penn State
students who were crossing the street. Richard
Smith died and Aaron Stidd continues to experience
severe complication as result of the accident.

After being missing for hours, Joseph was found by
University at the bottom of a stairwell on campus,
about 75 yards away from the fraternity house where
he was last seen. Earlier in the month, two Penn
State students were charged with furnishing alcohol
to a minor after a 19-year-old sustained serious
injuries following a fall from a third-floor
balcony. Joseph's blood alcohol level was .169.

Conor lost his life after falling from an apartment
balcony during a party. Police said drugs and
alcohol were factors, possibly exacerbating Conor’s
grief after losing his brother eight months earlier
since Conor was alone when he fell

Follow the links for article's
detailing the tragic incidents for each individual.

“In 2007, Penn State students created State Patty's
Day as an alternative drinking celebration after
learning St. Patrick's Day fell during spring break.
Since then, the event has created alcohol-related
mayhem downtown.”

“The university pays bars,
restaurants and beer distributors to disallow
alcohol sales during the event — depending on its
maximum occupancy, a business can accept up to
$7,500 to stop selling drinks. This year, 34 of 35
downtown businesses took the buyout at a cost of
more than $180,000 to the university.”

“All, it appears, involved drugs and/or alcohol. In
other words, the incident of the young man who lost
his life after falling into a stairwell on his way
home from a fraternity party is as similar to the
young woman who fell out of a window while dancing
on a table as the recent incident with the two story
balcony fall. All involved drinking.”

“Less than a week after a Penn State student fell to
his death, a second student has fallen from an
apartment balcony. The only positive aspect is that
this time the student survived -- suffering what
appears to be a broken leg.”

““Heavy drinking students will reduce their alcohol
use when it is in his or her best interest.” Such
change can occur when students realize that alcohol
use is interfering with their personal values and
goals.”

“Police are investigating five sexual assaults that
took place between Aug. 23 and Sept. 2. None of the
assaults are related and in each of the crimes the
victims reported they were acquainted with the
alleged suspects. All of the assaults occurred
during late night/early morning hours and took place
during or following alcohol-related functions.”

“In December, another 19-year-old woman fell from a
window in State College. The woman fell 8 or 9 feet,
according to police, and suffered multiple
lacerations. Alcohol was reportedly a factor in both
cases.”

“Fraternity parties.
Because many fraternity houses are off campus,
college administrators have adopted a policy of
benign neglect regarding weekend parties. Owing to
their geographic location, these houses are beyond
the university’s jurisdiction and control. However,
the school will be at risk should an intoxicated
student later injure himself or herself after
returning to school property. Of course, the
school’s risk will be far greater if the student
dies of alcohol poisoning while on school property.”

Reflection on scandal: “On most of these campuses,
law enforcement is the responsibility of sworn
police officers who report to university
authorities, not to the public. With full-fledged
arrest powers, such campus police forces have
enormous discretion in deciding whether to refer
cases directly to district attorneys or to leave
them to the quiet handling of in-house disciplinary
proceedings.”

““Several seemingly unrelated events combined during
the last school year to focus a spotlight on the
issue of excessive drinking. Chief among them was
the death of Penn State student Joseph Dado, who
fell into a campus stairwell while walking home from
a party in September.”

“Thirty-three people, many who attend Penn State
University's Schuylkill campus, were arrested by
borough police and charged with underage drinking
after officers received a report of an "out of
control underage booze party" early Friday morning.
All of those at the party were identified as Penn
State University students, friends or relatives of
students from their respective hometown areas,
police said.”

Student view on alcohol scene: “It’s important for
people to discover their limits, see the bad things
that can happen to them and learn from it. And if
your green projectile vomit doesn’t teach you a
thing or two and make you curb your drinking, maybe
legal ramifications are just the wakeup call you
need.”

Student’s personal experience with the “right of
passage”: “Eventually my drinking landed me in the
hospital from an alcohol overdose. Because that was
my first time in the emergency room, I wrote it off
as bad luck. I had not had a history of binge
drinking in high school and wasn’t worried about my
frequent drinking habits at Penn State.”

“The nationally recognized program, called Brief
Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College
Students (BASICS), is aimed at reducing high-risk
drinking. Students who were cited for an alcohol
violation or had an alcohol-related visit to the
emergency room at Mount Nittany Medical Center were
required to complete two one-hour sessions with a
community health educator and were charged $200.
Students who referred themselves were not charged.”

“Starting in the fall, the university will unveil a
more intense counseling program for students who end
up being treated in the emergency room for alcohol
overdoses. It will send letters of concern to
parents of incoming students, and is considering, at
the gates of Beaver Stadium, requiring that students
previously ejected for drunken behavior take
Breathalyzer tests.”

“At Penn State, members of Alpha Epsilon Pi have
been charged with hazing for an incident that sent
two fraternity members to the hospital with alcohol
poisoning; thankfully, nobody died. One pledge
stated that he was warned by frat officials to “wear
old clothes” for a bid initiation ceremony and, on
arrival, was forced to turn over his phone, jacket,
and wallet. He and other pledges were then led to
the basement where 30 frat members circled the
pledges and forced them to participate in hard-core
drinking games. The pledge claims he was soaked with
beer and vomit, but was given dry clothes and
carried back to the dorm.”

“The PSU student center is now the site of weekly
“Saturday Night Sober” meetings for students who
wish to remain alcohol-free. The brainchild of
graduate student Steven F. (keeping with the
philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous, the student told
The Collegian that he preferred not to give
his last name), the Saturday sessions were
established to provide an on-campus alternative to
the traditional party scene.”

“During the pledge ceremony, the boys sat on chairs
in a circle with a garbage can in the middle in case
of vomiting. Frat members plied the youths with
different brands of spirits, including malt liquor,
Southern Comfort and Jim Beam whiskeys, and various
flavors of Mad Dog 20-20 wine. The pledges then
were ordered to chug the drinks while other
fraternity members cheered them on and poured beer
over them.”

“Spanier said "probably nothing" commands as much of
his time and attention as Penn State's alcohol
problems do. The issue has begun commanding more of
the public's attention this academic year, too,
particularly since the September death of freshman
Joseph Dado, 18.”

Penns State “students have created another drinking
holiday, one they've coined "State Patty's Day."
Last year, the event generated more alcohol-related
visits to the emergency room, arrests for driving
under the influence, and other alcohol-related
criminal activity than any other weekend. That
included homecoming, Halloween, the actual St.
Patrick's Day, and big home football games.”

“Last year, the festivities got so out of hand,
State College Police Chief Tom King lashed out,
calling it a drunk fest that resulted in $4,500 in
police overtime spent to deal with alcohol
overdoses, dozens of DUI arrests, assaults and
incidents of vandalism.”

“In the 2008-2009 academic year, 30 percent more
students were admitted to Mount Nittany Medical
Center for alcohol related problems than the year
before. Police issued 29 percent more citations to
students for public drunkenness. In a recent
university survey, more than half of Penn State
students identify themselves as moderate to heavy
drinkers, and almost half report not remembering
some of what happened the night before. More than 77
percent of the students who drink had Blood Alcohol
Content above the legal driving limit. And more
students are launching their college careers with
drinking patterns in place.”

View from a student RA: “Underage drinking is
clearly not something we can ignore, especially
within the on-campus population. Most students
living in the residence halls are under 21 and
undeniably breaking the law. Some of our students
will act responsibly around alcohol, but spend a
weekend with any resident assistant and you will see
firsthand many students who do not.“

“Even more horrifying was the story of Lorraine
Hanna, a freshman at Penn who was found dead by her
twin sister after having been left alone after a New
Year’s Eve party. Toxicology reports found her blood
alcohol content to be .429.”

“A new Pennsylvania law gives immunity from
prosecution to a minor who calls 911 for an
intoxicated friend in a medical emergency related to
drinking.” “The law specifically exempts from
prosecution an underage person trying to help a
fellow minor who was drinking and became sick or was
injured. It does not exempt the drunken person
needing medical attention from prosecution,”

"The more crucial and realistic legislation here is
the legislation that will control the behavior of
intoxicated students," he said. "We have a problem
in our community of serious misbehavior by students
when they are intoxicated, and I am fully in favor
of holding those students accountable for their
actions."